Allegiance
by leobrat
Summary: Missing scene from 'The Girl Next Door', where Veronica asks Lilly to talk to Duncan about their break-up.


**Disclaimer:** I literally own nothing.

"I'm home! Hide the silver!"

Lilly's voice echoed through the Kanes' spaciously cold mansion. No one was home? That was weird. And then she remembered that it was Thursday, and Daddy was in San Francisco on business, and it was Mommie Dearest's day to host the Neptune Ladies' Club afternoon tea at Torrey Pines. But Duncan should be home. And Goddammit, if she was ever going to have any peace, she had to fix this mess between him and Veronica.

"Duncan! Quit whacking off, little brother!"

No answer.

"Duncan! Duncan _Doooooo-nut_!"

Still no answer as she headed up the stairs, and his door was closed. She could hear faint music inside, that weepy emo song that Veronica had always labeled hers and Duncan's song. iYou and I, we are two of a kind. I hate to say it, but you never relate what makes you tick, what makes you smile.../iNever being one for respecting personal space, Lilly barged in without knocking.

Duncan was laying on his bed, just staring at the wall. Lilly knew what this meant. It meant that Celeste had pumped him full of those catatonia pills that she felt was necessary whenever he'd had an 'episode'. "Just call it a fucking seizure, Mom! He's epileptic, not gay!" Lilly had yelled, more than once. 

But things had been good for the past year. Duncan had been so happy with Veronica. They both had, wrapped up in their own little world with Logan, who had dubbed them the 'Fab 4'. "Christ, we're not the _Beatles_, Logan," Lilly had yelled, more than once.

"Dunkie, what happened?" She sat down next to him on the bed, and couldn't help being a little worried when it took a full fifteen seconds for him to notice her. So she did something she hadn't done since she was five and he was four, and their parents had gone through their brief 'trial separation'. She reached out and took his hand. "Hey bro. Wanna tell me what's wrong?" Lilly had tried to inflect her voice with soothing compassion, but that wasn't usually her style, so Lilly wasn't surprised when it came out sounding slightly croaked.

"Nothing's wrong, Lilly. I'm fine," he mumbled, so low that Lilly could barely make out his words.

"Yeah, right you're fine!" Never being one for isitting still/I, Lilly rose and began to pace the room. "What the fuck's this I hear about you dumping Veronica? Oh wait, not even dumping her, just completely ignoring her for the past four days. What gives, Donut? Last week, you're all disgusting soulmates with her and making me _nauseous_, this week you don't know her?"

Duncan's eyes raised to meet hers, briefly, for a second. Lilly knew he had trouble focusing on Celeste's Magical Pills. "You don't understand Lilly."

"Damn straight I don't understand, Duncan!" Lilly put her hands on her hips. "What is it, did you cheat on her?"

"What? No!"

"Do you think she cheated on you or something?"

Duncan's eyes were a dark, stormy shade of turquoise and she knew he was in no mood for playing games, and to tell the truth, neither was she. She'd had a tiny crying blond on her hands all week and she wanted her fun best friend and her dorky, happy brother back. "Then what happened, Duncan Preston?"

"I can't...I can't tell you," Duncan's voice was full of such raw pain that Lilly stopped pacing and sat down right next to him, resting her cheek on her little brother's shoulder. She had never done ithat/i before.

"Duncan, what is it, is it...the sex thing? All the 09-er bullshit?"

"God, _no_ Lilly," she could hear the cry caught in Duncan's throat, and Lilly had had about enough of taking him by the hand if he wasn't going to even say what was bothering him.

"Then _what_ is it? Don't you care about her any more?"

"I _can't!"_

"Why the drama? What, do you mean, you can't?"

Duncan was on his feet, and he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, and Lilly knew that he was slipping out of control. She'd seen this before. "It's okay, honey, just breathe." She could see sanity and reason coming back into his eyes and he loosened his grip.

"Sorry." He turned away, in shame. Lilly knew that he hated what the medication did to him- but sometimes, he was worse without it.

She gently put a hand on his shoulder, and turned him to face her. "What do you mean, you can't? You can't what? Can't love her? What, are you scared?"

"I _do_ love her," his voice was so solemn, so at odds with his boyish face. "And I'm terrified. But it just can't happen." Duncan looked down, and took a deep breath. "I...I shouldn't tell you this, but...I have to tell someone." He looked back up, and his eyes were a deep forest green. Lilly knew that he was serious. "Swear to me, Lilly, you can't tell _anyone. _Not Logan, and _especially_ not Veronica."

Lilly's eyes went wide. "I'm listening."

Duncan ran a hand over his face, and sighed. "Sixteen years ago, Dad...Dad had an affair."

Lilly snorted. "No surprise there."

Duncan continued, "He had an affair with _Lianne Mars_."

"Whoa!" Lilly sat back down. "Frea-ky. No wonder Mom hates Veronica so much..." Duncan was looking at her expectantly, as if she hadn't put all the pieces of the puzzle together yet. "Wait...Sixteen years ago...So...Wait a minute, Duncan," He crossed his arms in front of his chest as the news hit her like a ton of bricks. "What are you saying, Duncan, that Veronica is..._our sister_? Who told you this?"

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Mom."

"Mom," Lilly scoffed. "Duncan, you know that she's always just tried to break you guys up-"

"You think she'd lie about _this_?"

Lilly ran her fingers through her hair. He was right- even their darling mother wasn't this spiteful. "Duncan, we can't keep this to ourselves."

"We _have _to, Lilly."

"No, it's not fair to Veronica!"

"Are you _serious_, Lilly? You're going to tell her that Keith isn't her father- do you know what that would do to her?" That knocked the wind right out of Lilly. She hadn't thought about it in that way. It wasn't like Jake and Celeste, Keith Mars was Veronica's whole world. But still...

"She needs to know the truth, Duncan," Lilly said softly. "She needs to know that you didn't just stop caring about her. You're breaking her heart."

"She'll get over it in time," Duncan walked over to his window, staring blankly down into their swimming pool. "It's better she just think I'm a jerk, and...eventually, she'll forget about me."

"Duncan, you know that's not true."

"Promise me, Lilly," He turned back to her. "Promise me you won't say anything."

"I...I have to think about it," she said, distractedly. This was the iexact/I kind of thing she always needed to talk to Veronica about.

"No, Lilly, you have to swear. Swear you won't say anything, or I'll...I'll tell Logan that you're sleeping with Weevil Navarro."

Lilly sucked in a breath, shocked. Nothing like knocking the wind out of her to break the tension. "How do you know that?"

"Please, Lilly, everybody knows. And if he'd stop living in denial, Logan would know it, too."

Lilly flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Well, so what then? Tell him. I really don't care any more if Logan knows. It's not like he's any saint."

"And what about Weevil? Do you care about him?"

Lilly laughed. "Oh please, I think Weevil can take care of himself against _Logan Echolls."_

"_Oh yeah, and what about when Aaron catches wind of it? If I tell Logan, he can't ignore it any more, and then the whole town knows it. Do you really think that Aaron Echolls is going to sit by and watch his only son be humiliated by a Mexican biker who takes out his trash?"_

_Lilly's mind raced, with images of Logan's back covered in thin, pale scars, and of Weevil Navarro's smile. She thought of Veronica and Keith, their beautiful, unbreakable bond. The way that Keith Mars adored his wife. Too many people could be hurt by this secret. And then she looked at her little brother, broken and desolate...and absolutely firm that he carry this pain by himself._

"_I...I got your back, bro," she whispered. "Your secret goes with me to my grave."_


End file.
